2.4. Editing a Bug
******************


2.4.1. Attachments
==================

Attachments are used to attach relevant files to bugs - patches,
screenshots, test cases, debugging aids or logs, or anything else
binary or too large to fit into a comment.

You should use attachments, rather than comments, for large chunks of
plain text data, such as trace, debugging output files, or log files.
That way, it doesn't bloat the bug for everyone who wants to read it,
and cause people to receive large, useless mails.

You should make sure to trim screenshots. There's no need to show the
whole screen if you are pointing out a single-pixel problem.

Bugzilla stores and uses a Content-Type for each attachment (e.g.
text/html). To download an attachment as a different Content-Type
(e.g. application/xhtml+xml), you can override this using a
'content_type' parameter on the URL, e.g. "&content_type=text/plain".

Also, you can enter the URL pointing to the attachment instead of
uploading the attachment itself. For example, this is useful if you
want to point to an external application, a website or a very large
file.

It's also possible to create an attachment by pasting text directly in
a text field; Bugzilla will convert it into an attachment. This is
pretty useful when you are copying and pasting, to avoid the extra
step of saving the text in a temporary file.


2.4.2. Flags
============

To set a flag, select either + or - from the drop-down menu next to
the name of the flag in the Flags list. The meaning of these values
are flag-specific and thus cannot be described in this documentation,
but by way of example, setting a flag named review + may indicate that
the bug/attachment has passed review, while setting it to - may
indicate that the bug/attachment has failed review.

To unset a flag, click its drop-down menu and select the blank value.
Note that marking an attachment as obsolete automatically cancels all
pending requests for the attachment.

If your administrator has enabled requests for a flag, request a flag
by selecting ? from the drop-down menu and then entering the username
of the user you want to set the flag in the text field next to the
menu.


2.4.3. Time Tracking
====================

Users who belong to the group specified by the "timetrackinggroup"
parameter have access to time-related fields. Developers can see
deadlines and estimated times to fix bugs, and can provide time spent
on these bugs. Users who do not belong to this group can only see the
deadline but not edit it. Other time-related fields remain invisible
to them.

At any time, a summary of the time spent by developers on bugs is
accessible either from bug lists when clicking the "Time Summary"
button or from individual bugs when clicking the "Summarize time" link
in the time tracking table. The "summarize_time.cgi" page lets you
view this information either per developer or per bug and can be split
on a month basis to have greater details on how time is spent by
developers.

As soon as a bug is marked as RESOLVED, the remaining time expected to
fix the bug is set to zero. This lets QA people set it again for their
own usage, and it will be set to zero again when the bug is marked as
VERIFIED.


2.4.4. Life Cycle of a Bug
==========================

The life cycle of a bug, also known as workflow, is customizable to
match the needs of your organization (see Workflow). The image below
contains a graphical representation of the default workflow using the
default bug statuses. If you wish to customize this image for your
site, the diagram file is available in Dia's native XML format.

[image]

======================================================================

This documentation undoubtedly has bugs; if you find some, please file
them here.
